DINGWALL JUROR RECALLS STRUGGLE

CHRISTOPHER KEATING; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

As an anxious community waited seven long days, Sheila C. Giardina and her fellow jurors struggled fiercely behind closed doors to reach 20 verdicts in the felony murder trial connected to the death of a Middletown police sergeant.

With voices raised and emotions running high, the 12 jurors reached agreement this week on all but two charges against Bryant Browne in the death of Sgt. George R. Dingwall. They agreed that Browne was not guilty of felony murder or first-degree manslaughter because they simply did not believe that he directly caused Dingwall's death.

"When it came to the cause, that's where we started to get stuck on things," said Giardina, 33, of Middletown. "It's not a clear-cut case."

Dingwall's police cruiser was equipped with mismatched tires, which the defense repeatedly argued contributed to Dingwall's fatal crash on Route 9 in Essex two years ago. Dingwall was among a number of local and state police officers chasing Browne, who was a suspect in a house burglary.

A microscopic analysis of the paint on Dingwall's and Browne's cars also showed that the two vehicles never touched during the chase that exceeded 85 mph.

The jury also found that Browne was not guilty of burglary, which was crucial because the felony murder charge was predicated on his fleeing a burglary. If Browne was not guilty of burglary, then the jury could not find him guilty of felony murder.

All of those factors contributed to the jury's decision to acquit Browne on seven of the 20 charges against him. The jury found Browne guilty on 11 charges, including misconduct with a motor vehicle and interfering with police.

"I don't want to say the tires were the only thing," Giardina said. "If the tires weren't part of this, I don't know what we would have done."

Giardina said the jury talked about the mismatched tires as "an intervening cause," referring to the defense's contention that the tires were a contributing factor. Dingwall's cruiser had three all-season tires and one snow tire on the day of the accident.

When the jury emerged this week, Middletown officers were stunned by the verdicts on the most serious charges. Browne had been facing a maximum sentence of more than 180 years in prison if convicted on all 20 charges. Now he's facing a maximum of 42 years.

"I personally feel, and many people here feel, that maybe the jury was confused over the specifics of the charges," said Officer William J. Clayton, the vice president of Middletown's police union.

One of the most stunning verdicts, police said, was the jury's decision to acquit Browne of first-degree burglary at the home of a high school teacher, where the chase began. Giardina, though, explained that jury members focused on the exact legal language that the judge read to them regarding the alleged crime.

Under the state law regarding first-degree burglary, a person must not only unlawfully enter a building, but also must "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly" attempt to inflict bodily injury on someone during the burglary or while fleeing from it. A separate part of law says a person could be found guilty if he is carrying a deadly weapon, but trial testimony did not show that Browne had a weapon.

"We really looked at the way the law was written," Giardina said, citing the precise language from memory.

Although Dingwall's death was one of the most highly publicized cases in Middlesex County in recent years, Giardina said she knew little about it. With a young family and a part-time job, she said she did not have time to pay attention to the details before the trial began.

"I knew there was a road named after him," Giardina said, referring to "Dingwall Drive" near the Middletown courthouse. "When you're driving down Main Street, you see it there."

But Giardina said she was surprised to learn -- after the verdicts -- that Browne had 19 prior felony convictions and that Dingwall had been reprimanded for crashing his cruiser in a prior chase from Middletown to New Haven. Based on rulings by Judge Patrick J. Clifford, the jury was not permitted to learn those details during the trial.

"There's a lot more to this than what we saw," she said, adding that she abided by the judge's edict to avoid reading newspapers during the trial.

Regarding reports of screaming in the jury room, Giardina admitted that voices were raised and that the deliberations were stressful. The 12 jurors were total strangers who walked into the same room every day and argued with each other.

"At times, it was difficult," she said. "There were no fistfights, obviously. But there were times when we had to call a break. At times, people felt very passionate about their views. It's like any normal business meeting. People get heated, and you move on."

Fellow juror Julie A. Lehmann agreed that the deliberations were "extremely stressful," but she said the group did the best it could.

While Giardina spoke freely about the case, she said she wanted to maintain her private life in the manner she had before the trial. As a result, she declined to identify what kind of work she does or where she is employed.

After spending more than a month of her life hearing evidence and deliberating with the jurors, Giardina said there were no winners at the trial.